Addiction experts say congressional Republicans' proposal to significantly cut Medicaid funding under the American Health Care Act could exacerbate the nation's worsening opioid crisis.
Subsequent suggestions by two Republican Senators to add extra funding in the bill to combat the addiction crisis will not be enough to mitigate the effects of the cuts, reports STAT.
Republican Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia — two states where the opioid epidemic is especially pronounced — have said recently in interviews they hope to add to the AHCA as much as $4.5 billion in annual funding for the next 10 years to support addiction treatment, according to STAT.
The additional $4.5 billion represents the same amount that currently funds addiction treatment for about 1.2 million Medicaid enrollees, which would be rescinded if Medicaid expansion is undone under an ACA repeal.
However, addiction experts say simply replacing the funds won't be enough to fight the opioid epidemic, because individuals with an opioid addiction are far more likely than those who are not addicted to have hepatitis C, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, among other conditions that are expensive to treat. Even if people addicted to opioids maintain access to treatment services, losing Medicaid coverage would bar them from addressing these other health issues, according to the report.